Blackquest 40

By: Jeff Bond

Narrated by: Natalie Duke

Big Tech meets Die Hard in this techno-thriller Kirkus Reviews calls "a clever, spirited tale with a brainy, nimble heroine at the helm".

From IndieReader's 5 star (highest rating) review: "Bond weaves an entertaining story filled with deceit, robots, Russians, and tech entrepreneurs that all combine to give the reader a reason to flip pages furiously to find out what might happen next."

Deb Bollinger has no time for corporate training.

Her company’s top engineer at just 27, Deb has blocked off her day for the one project she truly cares about: the launch of Carebnb, an app that finds spare beds for the homeless. When she’s told all employees must drop everything for some busywork exercise called Blackquest 40, it’s an easy no.

Trouble is, her bosses aren’t really asking.

Blackquest 40 is the mother of all corporate trainings. A near-impossible project to be completed in 40 straight hours. No phones. No internet. Sleeping on cots. Nobody in, nobody out. Deb finds the whole setup creepy and authoritarian. When a Carebnb issue necessitates her leaving the office, she heads for the door.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Armed commandos, HVAC-duct chases, a catastrophic master plan that gets darker by the hour - Blackquest 40 is a fresh take on the Die Hard formula, layering smart-drones and a modern heroine onto the classic action tale.

©2019 Jeff Bond (P)2019 Jeff Bond

Clever, Entertaining and Suspenseful

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily posting this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

A clever, entertaining and suspenseful story. I was pulled in from the very beginning and was so interested in the plot that I ended up listening to this book in one day. I loved the main character, Deb, who is feisty and opinionated. She is an asset to her company and she takes advantage of that status. Her moniker of a fellow employee who frequents McDonalds as "Sausage McGriddle Man" made me chuckle and quickly conveys Deb's character. I completely bought into her character and while there were a couple of times I thought the story stretched the believeability factor - but, the story quickly got back on track and I was willing to overlook those moments. I loved that throughout the story as new characters were introduced, you were never sure whether or not they could be trusted - which keeps you guessing until the end.

The narrator, Natalie Duke, had the perfect tone for Deb [as the story is from her POV] - at times snarky, brash, likeable and smart.

One of the best I've read in some time

The first thing I am going to say is that this book makes me reconsider pressing "Accept" or Signing any contract without reading the fine print.
Imagine your company providing you and your colleagues with training only to find out that when you digitally signed to accept, you agreed that for 40 hours you will be sequestered in your office, relinquishing your cell phone and that even your pay will be affected by how well you pass the training. This is the setting for this book.
I was given the opportunity to request this book from the author in exchange for reviewing it. To my delight, seeing that I am a software engineer, this is the type of company that is having this "training."
The main character is one you can sympathize with, although she is much more brilliant than I.
The narration is really good too. it added to the enjoyment of this audiobook.
I should add that, although this involves a technical company and character, the author does not get caught up in nitty gritty technical details but, at the same time, provides enough to keep me(a technical person) entertained.

Techie but good

great book. Gets technical but easily followed. main character is a winner and the narrator, Natalie Duke, does a phenomenal job.

A totally amazing story

This story way surpassed my expectation. I loved this book and could not stop listening. Quite intriguing.

Natalie Duke perfectly captures the tenacity and attitude of Deb! She was the perfect choice for narrator.

Listen to this story!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Good entertainmant

This Audio book has a well crafted story with an interesting variety of characters that will keep most listeners who enjoy this genre entertained.

The Narrator delivers a wonderful performance and enhances the story for anyone who listens to the entire book.




This Book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.